


The dragon and the wolf

by ZukosAss



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Badass Katara (Avatar), Did I have to write an AU so horrible game of thrones is jealous?, Do I have to keep bullying Zukka?, Evil Zuko, F/M, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Hurt Katara, Mentioned Ozai (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Past Aang/Katara (Avatar), also no, no
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:54:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26680045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZukosAss/pseuds/ZukosAss
Summary: "Never trust a firebender, that's what we were told as children, and what did you do? You trusted a firebender! Not just a firebender, a dragon! You trusted a dragon and it got us all burned!""Well, how the hell was I meant to know what would happen?""How could you not?""Hey, how about instead of playing the blame game, we find a way off the ship before it gets to the Fire Nation?""The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives... where is your pack now young wolf?"
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Ozai/Ursa (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Kudos: 5





	1. Shall we begin?

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be a long ride, and it will be a while and updates will be erratic as all hell, but if that's something you can vibe with then welcome to the peak of my writing and please, enjoy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know some people dislike trigger warnings but it has to be done, so let's get this out of the way and then if you haven't been scared off we can jump into this fic.

Some of you may know me from Wattpad where I wrote a mildly successful fic named '[After the war](https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/219003389-after-the-war)' if you want a more lighthearted fun ride then go read that for cute Zukka, Kataang and Tyzula. If you want to stay here and read this then please be warned that it could be triggering or unnerving.

I'm gonna be real with y'all, this is not for the faint of heart. I'm going full Lemony Snicket on this one and I envy anyone who doesn't have to write this spine chilling story.

This is not a story for the faint of heart if you will be hurt by or offended by graphic mutilation, violence and torture then please, save yourself the trouble and bow out now! I've been rewatching a lot of Game of Thrones and if that ain't a tone-setter for this thing then I don't know what is.

Initially, I thought of this idea while I was on a stand-up paddleboard in Bath and I watched two birds collide with each other, so take from that what you will.

In short, I'm sorry for my brain, I almost puked when I thought of one of the chapters, and this would curl the toes of the Dothraki, you've been warned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shall we begin?


	2. The dragon is on our shores

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Some context.
> 
> For the purpose of this fic, Zuko is in Ozai's good graces and has been sent on a voluntary hunt for the Avatar because Zuko believed he could find Aang and bring him back to the Fire Nation. As a result, Zuko doesn't have his scar and still has all of his Prince of the Fire Nation privileges.
> 
> Alright let's get into this fic, let's go! Get hyped!

In a world ravaged by war, where only the Avatar, master of all four elements could bring the endless pain and suffering to an end, there was only a feeling of despair, and no light to fight the darkness. No one had seen the Avatar in a hundred years and any hope of of a return had long ago been lost to time. But Sokka didn't need hope. He didn't need an Avatar, he didn't need spirits, and he certainly didn't want either.

Sokka loved the sea. Escaping out alone on his raft or his beloved canoe was the one respite he got from the shouldered responsibilities of the war torn Southern tribe. With his father away helping with the war effort the hunting, fishing and protection were left to Sokka and two boys a year younger than him. He had taken to splaying himself out on the raft, laying his arms behind his head and enjoying the sunlight bathing his face in a golden glow.

Despite the resentment at being left all of the manlier chores, he enjoyed being able to fulfil his role effectively and preferred to hunt and fish alone. It was more effective and he enjoyed the solace, it gave him time to think. To plan battle strategies. To think of defeating the Fire Nation. One swift attack would put the Firelord and his children to the sword, and the war would be won. The world would be at peace, finally rid of the ash breathers laying it to waste.

Sokka could feel the gentle movement of the water threatening to lull him into a slumber, lying on his raft in the brilliant sunlight. He was feeling the weight in his eyelids and was on the precipice of a well earned nap when his peace was broken by an ear-splitting, screeching roar. It sounded like an enormous animal in great pain. He cracked his eyes open and sat up in shock at the sight of a dragon.

Its enormous form threw a shadow over the water, almost blocking out the sun. It was locked in a vicious fight with something that looked like a lion vulture, but ten times bigger, almost rivalling the dragon in size. Sokka watched as the winged beast clawed the dragon’s neck, almost opening it, and the dragon responded by gripping the avian beast by the neck in its gargantuan jaws. The dragon beat its powerful wings, keeping the two airborne, and bit harder into the creature’s neck, drawing forth a pained and gargling squawk.

Sokka watched the creature’s large wings flutter, once, twice, three times and then it hung limply in the dragon’s grasp. All life leaching out of the thing as it was dropped from the dragon’s clutches, hitting the water with a resounding crack, followed by a wave that threatened to capsize Sokka. He secured the raft’s cargo and paddled towards the avian beast. He secured the thing to his vessel just in time to watch the dragon’s wings stutter and the winged lizard fell from the air with a forlorn, pained cry.

At some point a shout ripped itself from Sokka as he watched the beautiful creature plummet. It was higher in the sky than he'd thought, though the age it took to fall could have been created by Sokka's fear for the creature's death. He had heard stories of the dragons and knew they were all extinct. This could be the last one in existence and for the world to completely lose such a majestic race of creatures would truly be a tragedy.

Sokka watched the dragon fall limply from the sky, and crawl, lumbering, limping and lurching into a cave, leaving a trail of blood streaking through the water and staining the ice where the creature clung to its surroundings. Sokka watched it disappearing into the mouth of the cave, a mere slit in the ice, and he followed the nameless beast into the opening. Though what he saw inside the cave was very different from a dying and bleeding dragon.

What he saw was a boy, no older than sixteen laying on his back on the black sand beach inside the glacial cave, the water lapping at his bleeding body. He was covered in cuts and wounds and his clothes were tattered and torn. Sokka couldn’t leave him there, especially not if his suspicions about the pale boy were true. The water tribesman paddled his raft further into the cave and pulled it up onto the beach next to the boy. He hauled the guy on to the raft and made sure he was securely on it before Sokka pushed it back into the water. He stood behind the boy’s head, careful to paddle back to his tribe slowly and carefully so as to not tip the poor guy into the sea. The journey gave Sokka plenty of time to admire the boy’s angular features, the sharp jawline that could cut diamonds, and the cuts and scrapes littering his pale skin.

Sokka could have sworn he recognised the boy’s features. He certainly wasn’t water tribe, nor an air nomad, they were gone and there was no sign of arrow tattoos. Though he might not even be a bender, still, his features were too sharp and angular to be an air nomad. Maybe Earth Kingdom? Yeah, that was it, Earth Kingdom.

A few hours later Sokka was sat at the boy’s bedside, his wounds seen to, and was sharpening his boomerang, and other assorted weapons. He knew GranGran and the village elders would have questions for the guy, who was he? Where did the dragon go? What was he doing in water tribe territory? But Sokka wanted to be the first thing the mysterious stranger saw when he woke up, so no matter how long it took Sokka would be by his bedside until he woke.

A few minutes later Sokka looked from his boomerang to the stranger’s bed and saw his eyes twitching. A few seconds later they fluttered open and golden eyes stared at Sokka.

“W-where… am I?” His voice was high and gravelly, and he spoke with a strange accent that Sokka couldn't quite place. But nevertheless, he instantly liked his voice. The more he looked at the mysterious boy the prettier he thought he looked. His black hair pooled around him on the pillow, and his eyes were pools of molten gold. He had a face that men and women would go to war for.

Ah, shit, Sokka was smitten.

“You’re in the Southern Water Tribe, I found you in a cave, you were beaten up pretty bad and you were bleeding all over the place, I’m sorry I know it’s unfamiliar territory to you and you’re probably scared, but I couldn’t leave you alone…” Sokka averted his gaze to the floor.

“Don’t be sorry for saving my life, at least tell me your name?” Sokka flicked his gaze back up and blue eyes met golden ones.

“I’m Sokka” he smiled at the boy. “May I ask your name?” Sokka saw something on the boy’s face but as soon as it had come it was gone. What did he just see fleeting across the guy’s golden eyes? Was it panic?

“You may, my name is Lee” There was some sort of pause in his voice and Sokka assumed it must have been from the frightfully horrid wounds the guy had suffered.

“That’s a nice name” Lee smiled and it made Sokka’s heart do a dumb flutter.

“Thank you for saving my life Sokka” as soon as Lee finished speaking Katara entered the room.

“Oh hey, he’s awake, my name is Katara, I’m the one who healed you” she grinned loftily at Sokka. He knew she didn’t mean to hold her bending above him, she was just proud of becoming a master waterbender. Though she was the only bender left in the South, the South’s sister tribe had sent a master to teach her how to control her bending, in a bid to protect the Southern Tribe. In the process, she had also found herself betrothed to the heir of the Northern Tribe, Princess Yue.

“Yeah, yeah, well I got him here” Sokka said matter of factly, glaring a harmless stare at his idiot sister.

“Let’s just say you both healed me” Lee smiled, sitting himself up in bed and reaching for his clothes. The garments had been sewn up and folded on a chair at the end of the bed.

“Hey, Lee… what do you say I take you exploring around the south pole, we’ve got some spare furs for you to keep you warm” Sokka smiled, holding the blue garments out to Lee.

“That sounds fun” Lee smiled, and Sokka found himself dragging his new friend out of the tent. They got out into the stark white tundra, and Lee had donned the water tribe furs.

The boys walked for a bit through the snow, and Sokka decided to take Lee up to the hill that he always went to when he needed to think.

“This is called the Kilaq Hill, It’s named after a man called Kilaq who rescued a group of hunters, their hunt had led them to this hill and he found them freezing to death, and healed them with waterbending, he single handedly rescued them all” Sokka explained as they crested the hill.

“It’s pretty up here” Lee breathed, pulling the furs tighter around him, and his breath came out in clouds of white, curling around him and dissipating into the air.

“When I need a break, I come up here and sit for a while” Sokka looked ahead of him at the setting sun. “Lee, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can”

“Can you transform?”

“I can… I’m assuming you saw my fight with the overgrown lion vulture” Sokka looked over at Lee and saw red creeping into his cheeks. Was he embarrassed? “It attacked my ship, I had to stop it before it got to my crew… because it was so enormous the fight carried me far away from my ship, all the way to the south pole apparently”

“Close your eyes”

“What?”

“Just do it, dude”

“Fine”

Lee closed his eyes and Sokka let a smile creep across his lips. He focused, jumped forward and when he looked down he saw white furry paws and he turned to look at Lee. Sokka walked forward and nudged Lee’s leg. He opened his eyes and gasped when he saw that Sokka had transformed into a white wolf that came up to the middle of his waist.

“You’re a shapeshifter too?” Lee had a huge grin plastered across his face. Sokka bowed his head, signalling the affirmative. “Well, I guess now I have to shapeshift too” Lee smiled, before jumping up and turning his body in the air. Clothes melted away into large leathery wings, and by the time he was back on the floor, there was a dragon standing in front of Sokka. Smaller than the one he had seen falling from the sky. He assumed that, like him, Lee could control the size of his form. He was the same size as Sokka now.

For a while, the two messed around on top of the hill. Tackling each other, racing each other, Sokka running as fast as he could, keeping up with Lee flying overhead, and by the time the sun was an orange sliver on the horizon, the two were laying in their human forms in the snow, breathing hard.

“We should go back” Sokka breathed out, softly.

“Yeah, we should, I imagine they’re all wondering where you are” Sokka turned his head to see Lee’s golden eyes looking at him. Sokka smiled, got to his feet and extended a hand.

Lee took his hand and Sokka pulled him to his feet. The two boys began the walk back to the village.

“Hey, Lee, are you a bender?” Sokka asked, turning to his new friend, who briefly looked a little uncomfortable.

“Yeah, I’m an earthbender” there was hesitation in his voice. “I was wearing red clothes because I’m from the colonies… my dad was a firebender”

“Hey that’s pretty cool, my sister is a waterbender” Sokka smiled. “So where are you from?”

“Yu Dao” the oldest Fire Nation colony.

The two got through the rest of the walk in comfortable silence, heading back to the village. They could see it in the distance, various fires lit in fire pits, no doubt cooking the evening meal. Sokka could already smell the seal jerky and was excited for his new friend to taste his favourite food. The winged creature Lee had been fighting earlier was more than enough to feed the tribe for months.

The two entered the village and were immediately approached by GranGran and the village elders.

"Sokka, you knew that the elders needed to talk to this young man and you took him away before he could be questioned"

"Sorry GranGran, but don't worry, he's a shapeshifter and that creature attacked his ship and he fought it to get it away from his crew, his name is Lee, he's from Yu Dao and he's an earthbender" Sokka stopped for breath and saw GranGran shaking her head.

"You forgot a question then Sokka" GranGran was always so cryptic. He loved her but it frustrated Sokka beyond belief. "You forgot to ask what he was doing on a ship, why the ship was in Water Tribe waters, and who he was on the ship for"

"Sokka, son, his name isn't Lee" Sokka dodged a hand from the head village elder coming to rest on his shoulder.

"You don't know that! You met him for two seconds, I've been hanging out with him for hours and his name is Lee, and he's from Yu Dao, and he's an earthbender and a shapeshifter!" Sokka protested wildly ignoring the concerned looks on the elders' faces.

"How about we let him tell us his name" one of the other elders suggested, turning to Lee. "What's your name young man?" Sokka watched Lee's posture morph into a pose that looked as if he had just had a stiff rod shoved up the back of his shirt.

"You won't like me once you know me" Lee's head was hanging in what looked like shame.

"Then let me ask you something else, why was your ship in Water Tribe territory, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation?" As GranGran's question came to a close, Sokka felt his stomach drop right through to his feet and turned to face the boy he thought was his friend.

"No..." Sokka furrowed his eyebrows and his lips parted slightly.

"You're the Fire Nation's pride and joy" the head elder was staring the boy down, and Sokka thought he looked so defeated and sad, regardless of the fact that he was part of the Fire Nation Sokka felt bad for him, he was so nice, and they were treating him like he'd killed a penguin otter in front of them.

"I am..." Zuko trailed off. Wait. Yu Dao, earthbender, colonies... Zuko had lied to him! Sokka was looking at a liar!

"You liar!" Sokka shouted, and saw Zuko visibly wince.


	3. Prince of the Fire Nation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sokka? Katara? What are you doing here?"
> 
> "Couldn't let you get away, asshole"

“You liar!” Sokka shouted, and noticed Zuko visibly wince.

Sokka could see Katara approaching the group out of the corner of his eye, but right now he was focusing his anger on the lying fuck face in front of him.

“So, you’re from the Earth Kingdom, from the colonies? You’re an earthbender? I know what you are, you’re a filthy, rotten, dirty, stinking liar!” Every word of the last part of Sokka’s sentence was punctuated with a jab to Zuko’s chest, forcing the Prince to take step after step backwards. “I trusted you! I trusted you, and you lied to me!” Sokka was shouting now, drawing a lot of attention from the other villagers, but he didn’t care, he had finally met someone like him and he turned out to be a liar, and even worse, Prince of the Fire Nation!

“I think it’s best that the Prince leaves our land” Sokka’s tirade was interrupted by GranGran. Ultimately it was up to Sokka and Katara, in the absence of their dad the Prince and Princess had the final say on a decision, though in the waning Southern Tribe they never felt like the Prince and Princess. Sokka looked over at his sister and the look on her face told him all he needed to know: she wanted Zuko gone.

Zuko was given a bed for the night, but in the morning he would be given a raft, some rations, weapons and a very cold goodbye from Sokka. He and Katara wanted the lying prince gone as soon as possible. Sokka sat at the edge of the fire circle and watched Zuko walking away, like a scorned beaten dog. Sokka glared a hole into the back of Prince Jerkbender until he was completely out of sight. If Sokka was lucky the asshole would freeze to death in the night and they could send his blue, frozen body back to the Firelord for a warm funeral.

Okay, maybe Sokka was overreacting, but he trusted Zuko and he broke that trust. He didn’t deserve the Water Tribe’s kindness or hospitality after that.

The next morning Sokka and Katara escorted Zuko to the boat he was to be given. It was a simple raft with a hatch for the rations, and a sheath for the khopesh that he had been given.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye then” Zuko put his fist under his open palm and bowed. The Fire Nation salute. As if this asshole couldn’t insult Sokka any further.

“Yeah, this is goodbye Zuko” Sokka said coldly. Crossing his arms and glaring at the Prince.

“You have a raft, a weapon and supplies, it should get you back to your ship, you're lucky you weren’t killed the minute you revealed your identity” Katara snarled at him.

“Yeah? You had the opportunity, why didn't you take it?” Zuko glared at her, and Sokka got ready to jump in and defend his little sister. Despite being a capable waterbender Sokka still felt the urge to protect Katara at all costs. His dad had been taken away by the war, and the Fire Nation had killed his mother, he couldn’t lose Katara too.

“Because your father would send the might of the Fire Navy to our village and mothers and children would be killed, _again_!”

“I’m sorry, no one deserves to have their loved ones taken” Zuko hung his head. Sokka was baffled by the speed of the changes in this guy’s demeanour. One minute he was sweet, kind and nice, then he was defensive, angry and threatening and then he was apologetic. Katara looked taken aback like she had expected mockery or disdain.

“Just. Get on the damn raft Prince face” Katara ordered through gritted teeth. Sokka watched Zuko climb unsteadily onto the raft, and take the long paddle into his hands.

“I don’t know how to paddle this thing” Zuko called out as the raft floated away.

“Have a nice trip asshole” Katara grinned, waving mockingly sweetly.

They watched Zuko trying to paddle the raft and failing miserably for a while. He really didn’t have a single clue what he was doing. Katara was laughing softly, and Sokka couldn’t blame her for finding amusement in the asshole’s suffering and ineptitude. She turned to him and looked at him for a while.

“Sokka you’ve been really quiet, are you okay?”

“I can’t let him get away Kat, even if he is a lying Fire Nation Prince” Sokka hung his head and let out a dejected sigh.

“I get it, come on, let’s go find him” Katara led the way to Sokka’s canoe and they both got in and set off quickly.

“You sure you don’t want me to take over?” Sokka asked, sprawled out on the bow. Katara sat at the stern with her hand over the churning water. She was waterbending the boat forwards and had been doing so adeptly for about half an hour.

“Don’t worry Sokka, I’ve got it, just keep a lookout for Prince Asshole” sometimes Sokka was jealous of Katara’s bending, this was one of those times.

“He didn’t do anything that bad, I guess he wanted me to trust him and he thought telling me his real identity would scare me off” Sokka absentmindedly looked around for any sight of Zuko. He really hoped Zuko hadn’t been killed somehow.

“Would it?”

“It would have deterred me a bit, but if he’d told me who he was right out of the gate I could have got past it because he wouldn’t have lied to me… that’s what got to me” Sokka leaned his elbows on the gunwale of the canoe, and looked out over the serene water.

“I understand, he seemed perfectly nice when I met him, I guess I could warm up to him, it’s not like he’s done any wrong by us specifically” Sokka knew forgiveness didn’t come easy to Katara, she tended to hold on to grudges until someone had proven themselves worthy of her forgiveness. It was a defence mechanism, developed after she had found their mother’s dead body when she was a kid. Designed so she wouldn't be hurt so easily. Sokka looked up and saw a blob in the distance.

“Hey, steer towards that blob over there” Sokka pointed at the faint black smudge on the horizon. Katara steered them towards it and as the smudge came into view, Sokka realised it was Zuko. He was weeping, softly, sitting on a little disc of ice. As he heard them approaching he looked up and wiped the tears away from his eyes before standing up.

“Sokka? Katara? What are you doing here?”

“Couldn’t let you get away, asshole” Sokka grinned, softly punching Zuko in the arm, earning a grudging smile and Zuko rubbing his arm where Sokka hit him.

"Uh, guys, what the fuck is that?" The boys turned and gasped when they saw a huge ball of ice emitting a faint glow. That definitely had not been there before. They watched Katara making various pulling motions, gripping that air and drawing her arms into herself. "I can't bend it, what the hell is it?" Okay, so it wasn't ice.

"It feels like ice, but if you can't bend it then it must be something else" Zuko said under his breath as he tapped one knuckle on the ball of whatever it was a few times. "I suppose I could melt it"

Before Katara could get out a, yeah no shit, Sokka took a few steps back and then ran at the glowing ball, transforming mid-air and slamming all of the weight of his massive wolf form against the thing, putting a splintering crack in its surface. He had rebounded and slid on the platform of ice a little. He stood and shook it off quickly, preparing to run again. He shook his head and stared at the cracking ball. He charged again, aiming for the crack this time, and his hit landed its mark. The ball cracked open and a whoosh of air shot out as it cracked completely in two.

The three stood in shock as a young boy rose up over the top of the splintered edge of the ball, and slid down the surface, landing in Katara’s arms. The boy opened his eyes and blinked up at Katara.

“Where… am I?” The kid croaked out.

“You’re in the South Pole, my name is Katara, what’s your name?”

“I’m Aang” the kid smiled, speaking a little easier now.

Sokka looked over to Zuko, who had been strangely quiet. The guy was staring at Aang, his whole body shaking and trembling, golden eyes wide in shock. None of them had seen an airbender before, but Zuko looked even more dazed than Sokka or Katara. 

Like he had suddenly come face to face with something that had haunted him for his entire life.


End file.
